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Show American I nrk Cmen - Thursday. M.irdi 10, 2X)5 - Page 6 Sports Sports editor: Beky Beaton 756-5273 bbeaton her aide xtra. com Miracle shot for Orem ends season for Cavemen in quarters hit that." Lamb credited CuHick with making the most important banket of the game. "Craig's .shot at the end of regulation wan huge," Lamb naid. "That wan the biggest shot of the game because if he misses that, we're not even in overtime." After exchanging baskets in the first overtime, Orem had the last chance as the seconds ticked away. As an odd portent of tfurigs to come, senior guard Ahx (Jail grabbed a loose ball and flipped it toward the basket. The ball hanked in, hut the referees waved the shot off, saying it came after the buzer sounded. The Tigers never trailed in overtime No. 2, but when Lamb turned the ball over with just above a minute remaining, American Fork decided to hold for the last shot. Caveman senior guard Brenan Davis got the call. "Davis was really causing caus-ing us problems with his penetration," Orem coach Mike Conner said. "Even though he got an open look, there was still a hand in his face." Davis couldn't get the 15-foot 15-foot pull-up jumper to fall, causing a mad scramble. Junior forward David Olsen muscled up a tip for American Ameri-can Fork, but it went too hard and Lamb came away with the ball, setting up his desperation heave. For American Fork, the dramatic loss was a difficult pill to swallow. Head coach Doug Meacham said he told lus kids not tf) take any personal per-sonal blame for the defeat. "I told thern that I love them," Meacham said. "I told them that they'll go through all kinds of emotion, anger, regret; for some of them this is the lowest moment in their life. There are things you can't control and all you can ask them to do as a coach is give everything every-thing they have." Both the Orem coaches and player were f.'M., f-'jr.kbott quick to laud James Shoff greets fans before warmups. their opponents Japed Lloyd The American Fork boys basketball season came to an abrupt end after a (0-foot (0-foot praver found the mark at tin- hu..er to allow Orem to pull off a shocking fib-u'f win in double overtime during dur-ing the 4A quarterfinals March 2 in Ogden. "That la.it shot was just lu ky." Tiger junior forward 'lanner Lamb said "I just hoi ked it. up arid thankfully thankful-ly it went, in It's the best game I've ever been in." While the Cavemen -tared in stunned disbelief a- their championship dream- evaporated, the Orem bench exploded onto I fie i ourt . mobbing the jllbi- l.mt Lamb "The Bank" rapped off t be mo t i-y.i it mg game of the a-a-on, a-, both teams bad ban r , to e-rape with t he victory After falling behind by -ix rnidwav through the fourth penod, the Cavemen rallied, taking the two point, lead on a trey by junior guard An t in I Jaws. After a Tiger miss, Haws had a rhanrr to ire the game with a pair of free throws with 1 "j i-eronds left, but he rould only manage to get of 2 to go in. With the i lock w inding down, Orem went to its best -hooter, senior sen-ior guard Craig Cusirk, to try lo t ie the game. "It was the lat seconds and it was the last chance I would ever get," Cusjck said "I just got the ball and be 'American Fork defender fame- Shoff'i didn't want to foul me -o be baiked off a little bit I was just, lucky to for how well they played. "American Fork is a great, great basketball team," Conner said. "I think they're outstanding. They easily could've won this thing, (iive them credit, too." Both teams came out of the rough, physical game with plenty of bruises and scrapes. It was a hard-fought hard-fought contest in which neither nei-ther team was going to back down. The officials let the players play-ers play, frustrating both benches as they pleaded to get a call. "It was a state tournament tourna-ment atmosphere," Meacham said. "There were things that maybe weren't being called, hut sometimes that's how it goes. The guys did everything we asked them to do. They executed our game plan defensively" The big men for both squads benefited from the style of play. The unsung hero for the Tigers was senior sen-ior center Blake Johnson, who led Orem with 21 points. His counterpart, Caveman senior Clayton Searle, led American Fork with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks. Although the Tigers played an excellent game and put themselves in a position to win, Conner admitted that sometimes you need a hit more help. "Everything went our way," Conner said. "Sometimes "Some-times it's better to be lucky than good." In the early going, it was the Cavemen who had things working. Searle won the tip and Davis converted for the first points of the afternoon. A pair of foul shots by Rick Shoff and Searle's jumper from the top of the key gave American Fork a one-point lead. Following a Rick Shoff offensive board, he passed out to James Shoff, who drew the defense before sending it back to his brother for a trey. An offensive rebound by David Olsen set up a Davis .' pointer before the end of the quarter to push the Cavemen ahead 12-9. Searle was the dominant force for American Fork in the second period on both ends of the floor, tallying six points, two rebounds, a block and a steal for a fast- ' i ? if- 4'f" T- "4 I i ' f 'tp' f ' 1 - , ' 1 Kf Or if ; . f : Photo by Joshua Brown Caveman Rick Shoff goes to the hoop against Sky View, demonstrating the kind of determination and athleticism that has characterized his prep career. break layup to help keep the Cavemen on top 22-17 at the break. The tide turned in Orem's favor in the third quarter as they increased their aggressiveness with little control from the officials. offi-cials. They took the lead at the 4:22 mark, but efforts by the Shoff's and Searle kept the Cavemen close. The Tigers led 31-29 entering the final period and were up six with 4:58 left. Rick Shoff made a tough one-handed shot and added a free throw to cut the deficit in half. Searle made a putback and Rick Shoff hit two more foul shots to draw American Fork within one, setting up the dramatic finish. Rick Shoff finished with 14 points and had 7 rebounds when be fouled out, early in the second overtime. over-time. Davis scored 8 points and made ( assists, while Haws had 8 points and 4 boards. Despite his team's early exit, Searle was still impressive enough in his two outings to be honored on the All-Tournament team. lieky Beaton contributed to this report. , ft. , Ny A- V- ? .at TS-: Hi 1 1 1 t1" ..." I j ' 4'- ' ')f rr'l - ( ' - t- ' - V ' Photo by Jeremy Harmon Clayton Searle makes a fast break against Orem March 2. Photo by Joromy Harrnori American Fork point guard Brenan Davis looks for a passing lane in a region game. I I The season ended, but life must go on It's always hard when things don't turn out the way you plan. It's even worse when years of dreams are crushed by an improbable shot in a game that should never have been decided decid-ed by something that dramatic. We'd like to believe that life is always fair, but it just isn't. That's especially true in sports. The only places where the good guys always win is in Disney movies and superhero super-hero comic books. Except for the opposing team and their fans, there wasn't anyone who wanted to see American Fork's season end like that, but end it did. There were heated discussions in the tunnel and the stands after that game. The conversations are still going on, but all the "what ifs" and outrage don't count for anything at all when it comes to consoling a group of grieving young men, and the slightly older ones who were their coaches. The hard truth is, there's no going back. The shot went in, it was ruled good, and the game and the season were over. To live life fully requires that we pick up the pieces and move on. The hurt will last a long time, and you'll never quite forget how it feels. But you will survive. And if you try, you can yet learn something valuable valu-able from what happened. Make an effort to recollect, recol-lect, too, that it was still a fabulous season. You won't believe me right now, hut one day you'll realize that the things that made your team great -the chemistry forged hour by hour, the friendships tested by failure and success -will be enough to overcome the shared experience of one devastating disappointment, disappoint-ment, if you let them. Despite the way it ended, the memories of this year and the relationships that made it what it was will become ever sweeter as time goes on. In the end, you'll find that those are the only things that really matter. (POOR |